Where do Maricopans work?

Every weekday morning in Maricopa, a stream of vehicles heads north on State Route 347 to the Valley.

Nearly half of the city’s of residents commute more than 30 miles one way to work, with the average travel time to work for metro area workers around 27 minutes, according to the city.

However, the majority of the Maricopa workforce would leave their current company for a closer job, and more than 60 percent would consider changing their career or accepting reduced pay to work closer to home.

Overall, the Maricopa workforce is highly skilled with 53 percent working in management and other professional occupations, according to a 2010 survey commissioned by the city. Mayor Anthony Smith said the city is actively working to bring more jobs to Maricopa.

“We are working with our partners with the Maricopa Economic Development Alliance and the chamber for business expansion and retention,” he said.

He said the new Central Arizona College campus and Banner Health Center will help provide an attractive local job market. Groundbreaking for the CAC campus is scheduled for December and the Banner Health Center will open in the spring or summer of 2012.

“We need to create local jobs in order to have a sustainable community,” he said.

One of the larger Valley companies that employs Maricopa workers is Intel.

Out of the 10,300 employees that work at Intel’s two locations in Chandler, 250 live in Maricopa, according to information provided by the company.

About 200 Maricopans work for Banner Health Care in the Valley. When the Banner Health Center opens in Maricopa in 2012, it is expected to employ between 31 to 36 employees and can hire as many as 110 after it expands. The company expects many of those workers will be Maricopa residents who want to transfer to the local facility.

Some of InMaricopa’s Facebook followers are among the thousands who commute north.

Catherine Temple and her husband work for Intel. Catherine works in finance and her husband is an engineer.

Thomas Biddulph is a salesman for Coca-Cola. He travels as far as Interstate 17 and Happy Valley Road.

Jackie Keller works in Phoenix at Sun United Way.

Kristina Acosta works at Sears Teleservice Center in Tempe as a logistics coordinator. Acosta said she has been trying to find a job in Maricopa.

"I have been able to work it out with my employer where I work 10 hour days four days a week,” she wrote in her email. “I would still like to find a job closer to home.”

Cammie Lopez and her husband both work in Phoenix. She works at a law firm as an intellectual property paralegal and her husband works at a hospital.